San Jose: Forsythe Racing race notes

Forsythe's Leo Maia Grabs Fifth in San Jose Atlantic
SAN JOSE, California - Sunday, July 30, 2006 - In an attrition-filled
event that saw all four Forsythe Atlantic entries have contact incidents
early in the race, Leonardo Maia soldiered...

Forsythe's Leo Maia Grabs Fifth in San Jose Atlantic

SAN JOSE, California - Sunday, July 30, 2006 - In an attrition-filled
event that saw all four Forsythe Atlantic entries have contact incidents
early in the race, Leonardo Maia soldiered through the carnage to claim a
fifth place finish in San Jose. At the start of the race, the cars made
it through the tight Turn 1 hairpin without incident, but Lap 2 saw
race-changing events unfold as Andreas Wirth went too deep into the Turn
1 braking zone and had to go into the runoff, falling to the back of the
field. James Hinchcliffe lost grip on the dirty part of the track and
launched over another car ending his day. Richard Philippe tapped the
rear of Maia and had to pit for repairs, while Maia survived relatively
unscathed and moved up from his 12th-place starting spot to score
valuable fifth-place points.

Leonardo Maia

Climbs to Eighth in Standings

"That was a pretty crazy race. Richard tapped me in the back at Turn 1
on the second lap and I was pretty worried I had damage or a flat tire,
but the team told me everything looked OK and it still felt pretty good
so we were lucky. It's nice to have a good finish today at my "home"
race (Maia grew up in nearby Oakland)."

Richard Philippe

"It's pretty disappointing to hit my own teammate, but I paid the price.
Cars were flying everywhere in Turn 1 on that lap. The guys did a good
job repairing the car but we fell a few laps down and that was it."

Andreas Wirth

Third in Standings

"Very frustrating day. I was getting blocked down the front straight and
when I finally got beside him under braking I was on the dirty part of
the track and just had to go straight into the runoff. By the time I got
turned around I was way back in the pack. I was picking cars off and got
up as high as 12th but then I had contact with another car and had to pit
for some repairs. Now we go to Denver where I won my first Atlantic race
last year so hopefully we can get back on the right track. All the
championship leaders had some problems today so we were lucky there; we
can still fight for the championship."

James Hinchcliffe

"I got into Turn 1 and locked up my front brakes. I just barely touched
the car in front but it was enough to launch me in the air. It tore up
the car pretty good and that was it. All we can do is move on and try to
get some podium finishes in these last few races. Thanks to the crew for
all the hard work; they deserve better results and we'll get them next
time."

The series now heads to Denver, August 11-13 for Round 10 as Yokohama
Presents the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda. For more
information, visit the official series website at
www.ChampCarAtlantic.com. Speed TV will broadcast today's wild San Jose
round on Saturday, August 5th at 11am ET (check local listings), and
webcast replays of all events are available at the series website.